"Long Covid has had an emotional, social, physical and professional impact on me."
“I was working as a senior academic at a university – where I had been for 16 years – when I caught Covid-19 in January 2021.
“I had headaches, sinus problems, hearing loss and a cough. The symptoms developed over the next few weeks and months, and I never got better. I now have problems with my nervous system, I wear a hearing aid, and I have PoTs syndrome – which causes my heart rate to rapidly increase and leaves me feeling dizzy and light-headed, I have low blood pressure and my voice has been damaged by silent reflux. I've also been left unable to cry which has had an impact on my mental health.
“I was off work for 10 months – but I was desperate to get back to doing the job I loved as the university diversity and inclusion lead.
“I went back to work in November 2021. At first work were supportive and I was allowed to come back on a phased return, doing a set number of hours each week. By Christmas I’d managed to get up to doing about 3 days’ work over 5 days.
“But after the Christmas break, I was told that my phased return was over, and that I needed to come back to work full-time. I had mobility problems because of Long Covid but I was still told I would need to be on need to be on campus two days a week, even though my job could have been done from home. And I was then told that my team was being restructured and my job as a senior manager was being replaced with a higher-level role.
“I knew I wasn’t well enough to do that and asked whether my role could stay at the same level.
I was told 'we cannot change the new structure, maybe you need to ask yourself whether you are well enough to stay'. It was a shock and I felt pushed out.
“I was given the option of leaving early with PILON (Pay in leu of notice) and so took the redundancy package and left the following week - and thankfully I was awarded my pension early through the ‘ill health retirement scheme’ the Teacher’s Pension runs. But I felt lost, frustrated and devastated - I was only 52 and I wasn't ready to finish my career. I also loved my job!
"I'd hoped the phased return, or some level of sustained flexibility could have continued so I could have stayed in my role. Something as simple as starting work early in the morning, having a longish break, and then working into the evening over a much longer period of time than 8 weeks, would have made work manageable for me. I'm sure under those circumstances I could have built up to 4 or 5 days a week again in time.
"Since leaving work I've set up my own consultancy and I haven't stopped working - I just needed the time, and flexibility from my employers to help me do that with them.
"In some ways I feel very lucky, because if I'd had a service-level job I don't know what I would have done. Because I was so advanced in my career and had transferrable skills, I've been able to keep working - but I know others don't have that same opportunity.
“As the law stands at the moment, good employers will support their staff and make the adjustments they need to stay in work – but other employers will interpret the rules as they see fit. I was supported well while I was a way from work and when I first returned, but they wouldn’t budge on extending the length of my phased return, which coupled with the restructure of my team/role meant I couldn’t stay.
“Long Covid has had an emotional, social, physical and professional impact on me. Covid hasn't gone away - it's not just a nasty virus. People have lost loved ones, they've lost lifestyles and they've lost their health. We need to live with Covid now. And living with Covid means listening to it and understanding the impacts, not pretending it has gone away."
